On end of life

Check out the fine New York Timesblog post by writer Timothy Egan, telling the story of Annabel and Albert Kitzhaber – parents of former and possibly future governor John – and how they chose to die: Peacefully at home, with family, rather than “the tubes and the needles, the meds and smells and the squawk of television” at a hospital.

Egan pauses in wonderment at how, “for reasons both cynical and clinical, the American political debate on health care treats end-of-life care like a contagion — an unspeakable one at that.”

The article is a thoughtful read, but check out too the comments below (and a lot of them have accumulated). The very first tells a story somewhat like the Kitzhabers. The third suggests, “This is a touching story, but I fear that Kitzhaber’s battle is an uphill one. For some reason, we Americans seem utterly incapable of conducting rational, mature, and nuanced discussions about issues such as the right to die. The adults always seem to get crowded out by the red-faced moral absolutists and the carnival crowd.”